3 boys, a handful of careers, lots and lots of pro bono work

Clorox goes greenish

Well it is March. My yard is in a sad, sad state. The days are warmish and sunny and this mother of three boys is naturally spending a lot of time in the muck that is the New England outdoors in this month that is its own season.

The weather this week is warmer and sunnier than we are bound to have the rest of the month – this month has entered like and lamb, which means it will be blizzardy by Easter. None of this can make my restless soul resist spring cleaning.

Cleaning always makes me feel productive, but I’ve mentioned before my slow but steady march to greener ways of being. Cleaning up my cleaning up has been way at the top of my priority list. One of the first things I did was ditch the toxic cleaners. I’ve been cleaning with vinegar, baking soda, borex and well, elbow grease for a while now. I like it fine, but it is not as convenient as having a little spray bottle of something sudsy to spritz on the booster seat.

As part of a MomCentral tour for Clorox Greenworks, I was sent some of their new enviro-friendly products – the glass cleaner and the all purpose cleaner. For more thorough testing I bought the toilet bowl cleaner myself. You can read the fact sheet on their webpage. Here’s the short version: there are 99% natural (defined as plant or mineral based or derived) and have a petrochemical content of less than 1%. The list all the ingredients, not just the active ingredients as on typical cleaners. I was pretty happy with their performance. The toilet bowl cleaner worked easily – and kept the bowl clean for several days. The glass cleaner was a bit of a revelation. I have a pretty toxic reaction to windex so it has been a while since I’ve spritzed mirrors or glass cabinets with anything at all. I’ve just come to like with splashes, streaks and spots, but everything came out shiny. The all purpose cleaner was not too sudsy, handy out booster seats, the floor and the fixtures of the sink. Happiest of all – the smell – soapy, florally, but nothing to make my eyes water for days on end and my skin break out in hives – nor did my husband turn up his nose at it. He has a hatred of the vinegar smell and struggles on a deep level to clean with it. The second happiest of all? Convenience. It is nice when cleaners come in spritz bottles that work perfectly. I seem to not be able to find an inexpensive spritz bottle than doesn’t get busted within 6 weeks. It was nice not to have to mix a concoction of vinegar, water and borax, so my usually cleaning took a bit less time. Overall, I think we’ll hang on to these. I’m not giving up my vinegar, borax, baking powder routine. I think green-wise, they are the big win, b/c I buy big and so there is a lot less packaging involved. I probably just need to invest in a few more expensive spray bottles. I’d love to try Clorox Greenworks concentrated cleaner. I think it may turn into his and her cleaning products- Matt gets the Greenworks and I get my quirky borax stuff. That’s okay, if he picks up a few more bathroom cleanings, I can work on on making my own laundry soap, or something.